Home Properties Shuffles $50 Million in Sales and Acquisitions

The 10th largest apartment REIT in the United States acquired Courtyard Village Apartments, a 224-unit complex in Naperville IL for $12.8 million. The company also reports it has purchased The Manor, a 435-unit apartment community in Silver Spring, Maryland for $36.4 million. Courtyard Village, located on Route 59 about 30 miles outside of Chicago, is 97% leased. The Manor, situated in the Aspen Hill section along Georgia Ave., approximately 20 miles north of Washington, DC, is 98.7% occupied.

Officials with Home Properties add that the company expects to spend approximately $1.1 million and $1.7 million on improvements at the Courtyard Village and The Manor properties respectively.

Home Properties also reports it sold five properties on August 30 in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions. Those developments include four in the Baltimore, Maryland area: Country Club Apartments (150 units); Doub Meadow Townhomes (95 units); Laurel Pines Apartments (236 units); Strawberry Hill Apartments (145 units) and Riverdale Apartments (580 units) in Hampton, Va. Earlier in the month, the firm sold Hamlet Court, a 98-unit development in Rochester, NY The total sales price for those properties totaled $50 million. Company officials say the net proceeds from those sales will amount to approximately $42.7 million, which will be reinvested in the purchase of additional properties. They add that the total gain on the sales, which will be reported in the company's fiscal third quarter, will be approximately $8.5 million on book value.

Norman Leenhouts, chairman and chief executive officer of Home Properties comments on the acquisitions and property sales by saying, "By redeploying capital to acquire properties in targeted markets, we expect to enhance long-term value for our shareholders. The properties we are selling are either in slower growth markets or less efficient for us to operate due to their remote locations and/or smaller size. We are pleased with the positive results of our capital redeployment strategy on the company's earnings and future growth prospects."

Home Properties operates 295 communities, which contain 50,082 apartment units. The company directly owns 39,096 units in 143 communities in Northeast and Mid Atlantic states.